The 39-year-old British actor couldn’t help but add his humorous take to the questions aimed at him by AStarWasBorn.com. Eagle-eyed viewers may remember him from Swingtown, Flash Forward or from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies before his current series, Smash. Here he talks about his hometown of London and how his sexy, jaded director character really feels about Ivy and Karen.

ASWB: Where were you born?

Are you from the immigration service? … Nah, I was born in London, England.

ASWB: What was it like growing up in London?

I was about this tall and I was in the sandbox. I also spent a lot of time in Spain. We lived hundreds of places.

Big Ben and the London Eye Millennium Wheel along the River Thames in London, England. (above)

ASWB: Do you speak Spanish?

I used to, not anymore.

ASWB: Is there is anything in particular that you would recommend that tourists see there?

God, just get out of the tube in London and walk around. There’s a lot to see, just keep your eyes open.

“Richmond Park is a remarkable open space….”

Richmond Park (pictured above and below) is the largest of London’s eight Royal Parks and a National Nature Reserve, home to herds of Red and Fallow deer.

ASWB: When you go back, do you have any favorite places to see?

Richmond Park is a remarkable open space. It’s a little ways out. Suddenly it’s like being in the countryside and there are deer wondering around. The Queen owns them and you can’t shoot them, not that I would want to.

ASWB: So you grew up in London with all theatre around you …

Well, I grew up the child of actors (character actors Nigel Davenport; David Copperfield and Maria Aitkin; A Fish Called Wanda) so I knew no better. My entire career was trying to get my parent’s attention.

ASWB: So you consider the US home now?

Well, I lived in LA for five or six years but I live in New York now.

ASWB: Which do you prefer?

You can’t compare them. It’s apples and oranges then.

ASWB: Tell us about your character on the show.

He is demanding, perfectionist, more thoughtful than you would think and more sensitive than you would think. You can’t be a director of moving, emotional theater and be, like a truly heartless bastard. You’re in the business of trying to elicit an emotional response from people.

ASWB: He hides himself very well.

He has to. He’s not the one out front. He’s not the one in the spotlight. For example, at the end of Season one, as we got nearer the opening of the show, other characters who were within the creative team got suitably dressed up.

I was like, `No, I want to dress like a stagehand because this is the point where he’s done. He’s out. He sort of melts into the background.

ASWB: So c’mon who does he like more, Ivy or Karen?

What’s really interesting about that triangulation thing is that Ivy and Karen are such clearly different kinds of women, who have a similar incredible skill set but beyond that, they could not be more different.

What he sees in one, he doesn’t necessarily see in another and he behaves differently with them as well and I think one of the pluses of the series for me going forward is how the writers chose to explore that.

AStarWasBorn.com is an online travel magazine that explores the birthplace and hometowns of our favorite stars. Stars come to Hollywood from all over the world to get discovered; AStarWasBorn.com goes all over the world to discover their hometowns.